Salvage
by PenPatronus
Summary: In this missing scene from "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," Tony Stark goes looking for Steve after he fell out of the Helicarrier. Bromance, Hurt / Comfort, featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Pepper, Bruce, Clint and Natasha.


**Summary:** In this missing scene from "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," Tony Stark goes looking for Steve after he fell out of the Helicarrier. Bromance, Hurt / Comfort, featuring Captain America, Iron Man, Pepper, Bruce, Clint and Natasha.

**Salvage  
**PenPatronus

The full moon behind Tony Stark cast an Iron Man-shaped shadow on the Potomac River as he flew over the decimated Triskelion for the third time. "JARVIS, access the Coast Guard's search-and-rescue files from the past twelve hours. I want to know about every square foot they may have missed."

Suddenly an orange light flashed in the corner of Tony's eye. He answered the call with, "Hey, honey."

"Hi, sweetie," said Clint Barton's baritone voice. Tony opened the screen on the HUD and Barton's smirking face appeared. Pepper Potts stood behind him, her palm over her mouth, barely muffling her laughter.

Tony tried to look annoyed. "Legolas! How do you like the nest I built you?"

Clint scowled. "It's too comfortable."

"Pillows aren't firm enough?"

"I'm not used to _having_ a pillow." Barton glanced over his shoulder at Pepper, who raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, listen, I need to discuss… something with you. It's, uh, important. And – and urgent."

Tony banked left to avoid a flock of geese. "I'm all ears."

"Come over and we'll talk. I was going to make some lasagna for me and Natasha and Pepper and we were hoping you'd join us."

"Kinda busy here, Barton."

Pepper elbowed Clint in the ribs. "You look tired, Tony," Clint said, his voice forced and robotic.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Pepper, stop feeding him lines."

Pepper's face replaced Barton's on the screen. "Tony, you haven't slept in 48 hours. You need to rest. You won't listen to me so I thought you might listen to him. Or take a bribe."

"Tempting me with lasagna?" Stark shook his head. "Diabolical, Pepper."

Suddenly the Black Widow appeared over Pepper's shoulder. "Tony, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised. And you're a pretty tempting target for Hydra when you're flying laps around D.C."

"Of course I'm a target. My dad was a target, Nick Fury was a target. We're all targets." JARVIS spotted movement on the east bank of the river and Tony dove lower for a closer look. It was just a piece of a Helicarrier bobbing in the water. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is in shambles and none of us know what to do next, but the one thing I _can_ do is find Rogers." Tony made eye contact with Pepper. "I'll come home as soon as I can."

Natasha leaned in closer. "When you find him," she said, and started typing something out of sight, "don't just take him to any hospital. We don't know who to trust, so I'm sending you coordinates for a medical facility up-state. Ask for Sam Wilson."

"Roger that."

Natasha stepped aside, leaving Pepper alone with Tony. "Be careful," Pepper said, and blew a kiss at the screen.

"Love you," Tony said.

"Love you too, honey!" Barton shouted from somewhere off-camera. Pepper chuckled. She gave Tony one last wave, then cut the connection.

Ten minutes of flying later, JARVIS spoke in Tony's ear. _Sir, I've triangulated an area that the Coast Guard search parties may have missed. There is only a 12% chance that—_

"Show me," Tony ordered. A map appeared in his helmet and Stark flew another hundred yards upstream. He landed on the edge of the river, knee-deep in water, and turned on his heat-seeking systems. While JARVIS scanned for signs of life, Tony marched along the bank looking for footprints but hoping for a red, white and blue shield.

Another beep. A green light this time. "Talk to me, Banner," Stark said.

Bruce's face appeared. "Hello to you, too, Tony. Busy?"

"Not really. Just on a desperate search for Captain America. What's up?"

Bruce's face scrunched into an apologetic look. "Pepper wants me to remind you that you haven't slept in 48 hours."

"_Dammit_," Tony spat. "My father searched for Captain America for years. I'm not going to give up on him after one night."

"You know we're not suggesting that you do." Bruce cleared his throat and softened his voice. "But after everything that happened… Listen, I'm going to catch the first flight to New York in the morning. Natasha thinks there's safety in numbers right now, and I agree."

"Good. I'll see you at the Tower."

"I – I don't want to intrude. I can get a hotel."

"I redecorated – added a few guest rooms – one door might happen to have your name on it… Does the Other Guy find fountains soothing? Because I installed a fountain."

Bruce laughed. "Do these guest rooms have anything to do with that extra-large letter "A" you installed last month?"

"It's the Stark Tower and "Tony" is short for "Anthony."

"You're saying that the giant 'A' is for 'Anthony.'"

The corner of Tony's mouth twitched into a smile. "That's what we told the press."

Bruce chuckled. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Good luck."

"Yeah."

Bruce hesitated. He took a deep breath and said, "I'm sure Cap's alive."

"He is," Tony said in a tone of voice that invited zero argument. "He has to be."

Bruce nodded. "Be careful."

"You, too. Seriously, Bruce. Fury's dead. We can only trust Avengers right now."

Banner nodded. A second later his face disappeared.

"Stark…?"

Tony whirled around. Every nerve in his body and every wire in his suit went on high alert. "JARVIS," he barked, "did you hear that?"

_Triangulating, Sir_, the AI replied.

Impatient, Tony took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. "Rogers?" he called, then shouted at the top of his voice, "_Steve_!"

"Tony?" A figure peeked out from behind thick brush only ten yards away. It was Steve Rogers, extra pale in the moonlight, bleeding from a head wound and shivering. "Oh, good, it is you," Steve said, his words slurring. He swayed and crashed to the ground out of sight. Tony cursed and sprinted around the bushes to his side. He helped the captain sit up against a tree. "Romanoff… Hill… Sam Wilson… are they all right?" Tony frantically searched Steve for injuries and found more than he could count. "Hey." Cap swatted Tony's hands aside. "Answer me. Are they ok? Fury? Bucky – wait, what happened to Bucky?"

Tony only knew bits and pieces of Steve's adventures, all second-hand from Natasha. He barely recalled who Bucky was, and decided that it would be better for Cap to hear about Fury's death when he himself wasn't half-dead. "They're fine," he sputtered. "Everyone's fine. Everything's fine. Whole world's at peace, actually. It's a shame you missed the party. What were you doing hiding out here?"

Steve licked his lips and stared at Tony through half-lidded eyes. "I don't know… The last thing I remember was falling, then I woke up here."

"Maybe you have a guardian angel," Tony mocked.

Steve's head lolled to the side and Tony cupped his cheek before his jaw smashed against bark. "Maybe the Hulk caught me when I fell out of the Helicarrier like when you fell out of the wormhole."

"Sure," Tony said. "Big green Hulk angel with a halo. Can you stand?"

"Of course I can." Steve tucked his legs under him but only managed to wiggle himself back against the tree, but not actually up it.

Tony shook his head at the sight. "You're as stubborn as me. Come on." Tony put his helmet on and pulled Steve's arm across his shoulders. "God, you look like death. I'll get you to a hospital pronto, Cap."

"Th-Thanks." Steve combed his shaking hands through his dirty blond hair. "Thanks, Tony."

**The End**


End file.
